Nuggets Shopping Felton

        According to various sources, the Denver Nuggets are pushing the phones to find a taker for  point guard Ray Felton and the No. 22 overall pick to move into the top ten. In 54 games with the Knicks last season, Felton averaged a new career-best in scoring (17.1) and assists (9.0), but when he was shipped to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony-deal, he was relegated to a bench role and scored just 11.5 points and dished out 6.5 assists in his supportive action. The Nuggets believe that moving forward, Ty Lawson, a backup to Chauncey Billups to start the year, will be their point guard of the future, making Felton expendable, especially as Felton publically clarified his unhappiness with the team.

        The Kings have inquired about the Nuggets' package, which would move Denver all the way to No. 7 overall to select one of two big men- Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo. This trade makes sense for both sides as Sacramento would love to push franchise guard Tyreke Evans to his more natural 2-guard position and the Kings have room to take on Felton's $7.5 million salary. And then Denver would be able to take one of their athletic frontcourt needs to replace the aging Kenyon Martin- Valanciunas would allow Nene to shift back to his more natural power forward spot once re-signed and Biyombo could play either the 4 or 5 with his length.

        The Los Angeles Lakers, with new head coach Mike Brown, have also inquired about the availability of Felton.



By President Corey Ruff - 6-23-11